He's No. 1 nationwide at delivering pizza

Be friendly. Be positive. It's the pizza delivery mantra, and its application might just be why James Phillips, 28, has just been named the best in the country.

By Jon SilmanStaff writer

Be friendly. Be positive. It's the pizza delivery mantra, and its application might just be why James Phillips, 28, has just been named the best in the country.He's heading west on Northwest 16th Avenue, in the rain, on Tuesday. It's dark, and murky, until he hits 13th Street, and the sun pops out from the sky. Bands of yellow shoot through the clouds. He turns onto Northwest 23rd Boulevard, to Creeks Edge condominiums. He hustles out of the car and throws his pizza bag over his shoulder. Up the stairs. It's only sprinkling now. He knocks and smiles.

"I heard someone ordered some food.""I did," says a man behind the opened door."Well, here it is."A quick monetary transaction. The door closes. Off he goes.Phillips is the Domino's Pizza delivery expert of the year. He beat out more than 120,000 drivers around the country for the honor.Safe deliveries? There have been 36,000 over Phillips' career at Domino's — 6,500 pizzas delivered in 2011. He can assemble a pizza box in 3.8 seconds. When customers fill out online surveys, he always rates the highest when it comes to friendliness. When new trainees rate him on attitude, it's the same thing.His bosses nominated him to be National Driver of the Year, and when he won, he went to the Domino's World Wide Rally in Las Vegas to accept the distinction."It was like going to the Academy Awards," he said. "And waiting to see if they call your name."In the store he works at, on 25 NW 16th Ave., he's always moving.He answers phones and takes orders. Be positive, he tells himself. He makes food on a long white tray, under a computer screen and a keyboard covered in plastic. He grabs things and sometimes forgets things, too."Crap, what goes next on an Italian sandwich?" he asks himself.Co-worker and manager-in-training Joe Prettyman said Phillips is an overall hard worker with a great attitude.He said Phillips' secret is his positivity. He makes the job fun.His life wasn't always like this, though.He grew up in Georgia. His dad was a sod farmer, his mom an antique dealer. He's been working full time since he was 14."I'm not a hard worker," he said. "I'm a long worker."He likes watching cartoons. He loves playing video games. He took his girlfriend to an anime convention, and they fell in love. Now he's a newlywed.But he hit a snag in his early 20s, when he was in college. He was studying Japanese at UF, and he was a fifth-year junior. He dropped out.He got depressed. He didn't know where his life was going. But he liked his job at Domino's. He's been with the company for seven years, and he credits his turnaround to two specific things: Part Domino's "brainwashing" and part personal philosophy."Money really only motivates you so far," he said. "If I can't be positive, I can always be polite."He knows delivering pizzas isn't charity work, but he kind of looks at it like it is. He feels satisfied knowing that he's making people happy. Be friendly, he tells himself."Everyone is always happy to see the pizza guy," he said.